The national search for the Grand Bargain is over. Mike Trout will be paid $510,000 this season.

At least the Los Angeles Angels took care of business this weekend, which is more than you can say about Washington politicians. But Trout is not pleased. Would you be if you looked down the bench and saw Vernon Wells?

He had 21 fewer home runs, 100 fewer RBI, 126 fewer hits and 46 fewer steals last season. He’ll make more in four games than Trout will all season.

Trout doesn’t have a beef with Wells. He’s dismayed with the people who write the checks.

Players aren’t eligible for arbitration until their fourth year in majors. Teams “renew” contracts at a salary of their choice. They just need to meet the major league minimum and can’t cut a salary more than 20 percent.

So after Trout batted .326, had 30 homers, 129 RBI, 49 steals, played a demonic centerfield and was AL Rookie of the Year, the Angels decided to give him $20,000 more than the league minimum.

If only he’d found a cure for earthquakes, maybe LA would have bumped it $30,000.

“The $510,000 salary was not the result of a negotiated compromise between Mike and the Angels,” Craig Landis, Trout's representative, said. “Because Mike has less than three years of major league service and has not yet reached arbitration, the Angles have the right under the (collective bargaining agreement) to unilaterally impose a salary upon Mike.”

Having the right is not the same as being right. And it sure doesn’t make it smart.

Baseball underpays players early and overpays them later. That’s just the way things are and everybody accepts it.

OK then. The next rookie who sets the league ablaze and almost wins MVP should also get special consideration.

It doesn't have to be $10 million, $5 million or even $1 million. Just show the kid some appreciation for a bang-up job. What would a $250,000 raise hurt?

We’re not talking the Rays or Royals or some other tin-cup-holding team here. These are the Angel$$$. Albert Pujols has 250 grand in loose change lying around his luxury suite at Angel Stadium of Anaheim.

He and Josh Hamilton also get their owns hotel suites on the road. Trout will get the rollaway in Mike Scioscia’s closet.

It makes the Angels look like the Marlins, which is hard to do when a team has a $154,940,524 payroll. A 4 percent raise is even miserly by rookie phenom standards.

The Yankees bumped Derek Jeter’s salary from $130,000 to $550,000 after one season. St. Louis raised Pujols' from $200,000 to $600,000.

Trout was already miffed the Angels moved from centerfield, where he should have won a Gold Glove last year. But he’s being a good soldier about everything. His agent wasn’t so magnanimous after Saturday’s contract decision.

“During the process, on behalf of Mike, I asked only that the Angels compensate Mike fairly for his historic 2012 season, given his service time,” Landis said in email to LA Times. “In my opinion, this contract falls well short of a ‘fair’ contract.”

He would not have publicly proclaimed that if it weren’t also his client’s opinion. Trout won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2017 season, so the Angels have a long time to make nice and keep him from signing with the Yankees for $1 billion.

It’s just that people, not just baseball players, have a way of remembering these things. You bust your butt for your company, wildly exceed expectations and go in for your annual review.

The boss gives you a pat on the head and some free agent from Texas $25 million a year.

The Angels should listen to Prince Fielder, circa 2008.

“I'm not happy,” he said. “But my time is going to come. It’s going to come quick, too.”

He’d just hit 50 home runs and was third in MVP voting. The Brewers renewed him for $670,000, far below what Fielder thought he was worth.

His time came four years later. It wasn’t in Milwaukee. Now the Angels are on the clock.

“You could easily put yourself in a bad mood about it,” Trout said, “but that’s not me. I like to play baseball.”

Even at $510,000, he can afford to be in a good mood. Trout knows the Angels may have struck The Grand Bargain for now. And they might pay for it in the long run.